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OUR formal coverage of the Labour leadership contest draws to a close today – and not a moment too soon probably!

Moving forward, here’s a reminder on timelines which you might find useful as you roadmap from Rhodri to his successor. Betsan also has an useful guide, including telling us where some of the parties are at tonight.

Tuesday December 8th:
Rhodri Morgan AM will stay on until this date to see the budget for 2010-11 passed. He will resign later that day by communicating with HM The Queen.

Wednesday December 9th:
The Queen is expected to accept the resignation and the First Minister and Counsel General will then be deemed to have resigned. All the Special Advisers to the Welsh Assembly Government will also depart at this point.

During Plenary session a motion will be moved to nominate a First Minister and the winner of the Labour leadership election will be formally nominated. It is not anticipated that they will be opposed.

This nomination will then need to be approved by The Queen, after which the new First Minister will need to be sworn in. Once this is done the new First Minister can begin to recommend Ministers to join the Welsh Assembly Government.

Any Ministers that are not being replaced or moved will not need to be recommended to The Queen. The other names will be submitted to The Queen.

Thursday December 10th:
The Cabinet and Welsh Assembly Government reshuffle is due to be completed and the full list of Ministers will be published.

The current make-up of the Welsh Assembly Government is:

• First Minister
• Counsel General
• 8 Ministers (currently 5 Labour, 3 Plaid Cymru)
• 4 Deputy Ministers (currently 3 Labour, 1 Plaid Cymru)

The overall balance between the numbers of Labour and Plaid Ministers is not likely to change, though there could possibly be structural changes that affect all portfolios.

The new First Minister will also appoint the Special Advisers to the Welsh Assembly Government (capped at 8). These currently divide 5 Labour and 3 Plaid Cymru.